Just when you think the Falcons have lost their capacity to make us go, “Huh?”, they do this. The franchise that hired Marion Campbell as head coach a decade after firing him as head coach; that called a meeting to can coach Dan Henning but exited having anointed him czar of football operations to boot … that bewildering franchise appears to have deposed its general manager without actually deposing him.
For 10 days, we wondered how Thomas Dimitoff remained while Mike Smith got the gate. Late Wednesday, we got our answer, such as it is. Dimitroff gets to keep his job but not his job description. The man who drafted Matt Ryan and Julio Jones and signed Michael Turner — and who also drafted Peria Jerry and signed Ray Edwards — will no longer be the point man for scouting or drafting. Assistant GM Scott Pioli will.
But wait: After a confusing news release was sent, a Falcons representative called to say that Dimitroff would retain “final say” over personnel decisions. (From the release: “Pioli will take on pro and college scouting and NFL Draft responsibilities, reporting to Dimitroff.”) So what does that mean? That Dimitroff, who made his reputation as an ace scout, will no longer be evaluating players — except when it comes to drafting/signing them?
The Falcons say they’re modeling themselves after the Baltimore Ravens, who have a respected GM in Ozzie Newsome and a nearly-as-respected assistant in Eric DeCosta. But consider the Flowery Branch dynamics: Pioli used to be Dimitroff’s boss in New England; now he’ll be doing what most general managers do but still reporting to Dimitroff. Is this apt to work for more than a month?
From the release: “The Atlanta Falcons today announced a restructuring of (their) player personnel department, to take effect (immediately). The changes are designed to provide a more intense focus on pro and college scouting efforts, play on the strengths of individuals in the two departments, and ensure the highest standards of performance in other areas of football operations managed by Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff.”
Can anyone read that and see it as a vote of confidence for Dimitroff’s “scouting efforts”? And if the Falcons have lost faith in the former scout, why keep him around? So he can — again from the release — “retain management responsibility for salary cap, player affairs, equipment, sports medicine and performance, and video activities”? Video activities? Player affairs? Seriously?
I don’t have an issue with replacing Dimitroff as chief talent evaluator, if that’s indeed what has happened. He built a flimsy roster that was propped up by Ryan (a great Dimitroff pick) until its flaws (a leaky offensive line and the NFL’s worst defense) become blatant. Seven drafts and seven free agencies should have yielded more talent than the Falcons have, as the Falcons themselves just acknowledged.
But why all this layering? Within the organization, there’s one former GM (Rich McKay) in charge of stadium-building; one incumbent GM (Dimitroff) who wouldn’t seem all that incumbent, and an erstwhile Kansas City GM (Pioli) who has been tasked with scouting/drafting for a different organization two years after being fired in KC. Is Arthur Blank trying to run a team or to ensure having a foursome when he wants to play a quick 18 holes?
It’s risky to assess a transition still in transit, but the doings of the past fortnight have been sobering. From the leak that the Falcons had hired a search firm to help find a replacement for Smith, who was technically still in place; to the strange briefing after Smith’s firing that saw Dimitroff sitting by as reporters asked, “Why isn’t he gone, too?”; to reports that the GM’s status might depend on who’s hired to coach (usually the GM hires the coach); to this “restructuring” that the team itself concedes was garbled …
From all the above, we’re left to wonder if Flowery Branch hasn’t become a time warp, and if the maladroit Smiths aren’t still in charge.
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